Where’s The Speculation?

A few people have asked why The Edit hasn’t posted any speculation about the mayoral race recently. Well, we don’t want to mislead anyone. But, with another candidate in the Mayor’s race, we’ll offer this.

Jim King made his announcement today with a PR firm (Tandem) behind him. He had a video crew record my interview with him and he’s clearly ready to sink a lot of money into this campaign.

Greg Fischer and David Tandy do not have as slick of campaigns as King…yet, but King’s entrance could put everyone into high gear for fundraising early on.

On the Republican side, Steve Pence is still an option, and Dan Seum said Doug Hawkins could fulfill his promise to run in State Sen. Seum’s steed. Hawkins would have to work hard to get the support he needs, and Pence may not want to give up his successful current career to run for a municipal office.

The GOP could also be working on choosing a candidate behind the scenes. With at least three Democrats battling it out in a primary, a unified Republican front could launch after Labor Day and smoothly sail until the general election campaign begins. This move would also save the Republican candidate significant energy and money by preventing a high-profile primary. It’s a smart political move, but it’s also risky; the public won’t have the chance to weed out a candidate they don’t like, and instead of losing a primary early on, the candidate loses the election much later.

However…The Republican candidate would have to compete with the media attention given to the contested Democratic primary.

It could be argued that the early start to the campaign will instill a fatigue in voters, and everyone will be tired of hearing about the candidates by the time the election comes around. I think the idea of voter fatigue is something that gets a lot of coverage, but doesn’t really exist.